Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-elect Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) on Monday rescinded his candidacy for legislative speaker, removing the last challenge to former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) before the party formalizes its ticket on Wednesday.
The announcement was a turnaround from the day before, when the former Hualien County commissioner held a news conference doubling down on his intention to run and outlining his platform.
Even before the news conference, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) had already given his support to Han and Chiang to run as speaker and deputy speaker respectively.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The party on Monday held a meeting with its newly elected legislators, concluding in the change of heart by Fu.
“My personal honor is not important, it’s about improving the legislature,” Fu said.
Saying there was only one way to unite the party at this time, Fu endorsed the Han-Chiang ticket as the party’s consensus for the most competitive and robust option.
Chu thanked Fu for supporting Han and Chiang, who are to be formally nominated by the party on Wednesday.
Voting for the new speaker and deputy speaker is scheduled for Thursday next week, the first day of the new legislature.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS